NHwest wrote in message <19980317023001.VAA25588@ladder01.news.aol.com>...

>I just started to take photos of maps that are anywhere from 24" x 30" to
>smaller ones .
>
>When I tried using a Quantaray 35-80mm 1:4-5.6 lens on my N6006 I got a
>distortion at the extreme edges of the photo. The straight border of the map
>came out equally bowed on all four sides something like ( ).
>
>Is there any kind of lens that would to allow me to get distortion free
>straight lines at the edge of these close-up photos?

The 50mm f1.8 AF Nikkor has very low linear distortion and may focus close
enough for your purposes. Often a zoom has low distortion at one point in
its zoom range, but this may be hard to find since the camera viewfinder
also has linear distortion - which is pincushion-type, ") (". If the
inexpensive (and excellent...) 50mm does not focus close enough, a short
extension tube can be added. A macro lens (not a zoom with "macro"...)
would be more convenient, but more expensive.
--
David Ruether
http://www.fcinet.com/ruether
ruether@fcinet.com